I heard a rumor that USTA has come out with a software program for captains. It is a spreadsheet or something that allows players to log on and record dates for which they are unavailable. It also does things like tell you how many matches each player has played, etc.

Has anyone heard of this?

I've been doing schedules manually, using a Word table with colums for which players are unavailable, who's playing what position with whom, and alternates. I'd love something automated, especially if the players could make changes themselves and delete themselves from the list of available players as needed.

Have not seen anything from the USTA in my section regarding assisting captains with match scheduling however the e-team thing pbody99 mentioned looks interesting. I wish I had known about it for the current mixed season. I would have tried it.

I keep my own spreadsheet that does that, its easy enough to do.
Column A lists all my players and I put all the match dates on Row 1. In the cells I put the scores along with what position they played (1S 6-0, 6-1....1D 6-3, 6-2....etc), and black out the cells where a player is not available.
I have all the information I need right there. I put the winning scores in blue and losing scores in red.
I can easily see who played with who, who won, and when they are available. I also have a tab in the same worksheet that has everyones contact information.
So far, that works good enough for me, but my team is good about telling me their availability up front and as it changes.

In my state, the captains do not schedule matches. The local league coordinator schedules all matches for all levels. They use a software program provided by TennisLink, I believe. I can't imagine all the captains attempting to schedule their individual matches.

In our section we do actually schedule the matches, but the section does give us a week in which the match should be played. They also set rules, such as weeknight games need to start between 6pm and 8pm and weekend games need to start between 10am and 4pm unless both captains agree otherwise. So the home captains just email all the other teams and give their dates and times.

Many clubs/parks have so many teams playing with their own rules for match scheduling that it would be impossible for the section to schedule. For instance, section rules state you need to have enough court time to allow 75 minutes per match, at our club we require no less than 2 hours per match, so teams can't schedule closer than two hours apart. And taking a gander at say, Sunnyvale Tennis Center, I can't see how they get all those teams in there.

I might go with Google Spreadsheets, which has a collaboration feature. Since the spreadsheet would be on-line, my players could see the current version anytime and could note their own unavailability and confirm on-line.

I'm not sure about TennisOne. I started a team, and there were already lots of teams listed in our "club." That's fine, but I would want to delete these opponents because they don't pertain to us. TennisOne won't let me do this. Also, the interface is daunting, and I'm afraid my players will get confused and frustrated figuring out which of the 20 options they should use.

I might go with Google Spreadsheets, which has a collaboration feature. Since the spreadsheet would be on-line, my players could see the current version anytime and could note their own unavailability and confirm on-line.

I think the advantage of TennisOne is that the players interact with it directly. They confirm their availability on it, and the captain can see that they logged on and confirmed.

I gotta tell ya, the endless e-mails wear me out more than anything else. "Player? Player? Can you confirm you'll be there on Thursday night? OK, I guess I'll track you down by phone, then . . . "

I just signed up for an account, but already I can't seem to log onto the thing. Topaz, have you had any problems with access?

I was on there today, and didn't have any problems. Once and while, it goes down for a bit, but never for long. If you continue to have problems, email the guys that run it. They usually answer you personally. They've also made improvements in the last year that I really like. For example, when scheduling who gets the four practice spots, I can see when each player responded, so I can schedule whoever answered first.

I might go with Google Spreadsheets, which has a collaboration feature. Since the spreadsheet would be on-line, my players could see the current version anytime and could note their own unavailability and confirm on-line.

I'm not sure about TennisOne. I started a team, and there were already lots of teams listed in our "club." That's fine, but I would want to delete these opponents because they don't pertain to us. TennisOne won't let me do this. Also, the interface is daunting, and I'm afraid my players will get confused and frustrated figuring out which of the 20 options they should use.

I know a captain that uses spreadsheets, and she likes that as well. Since you're the captain and the one doing all the extra work, use what feels easiest to you. We've been using TennisOne for a year now, so we are all pretty familiar with it...but in the beginning I did have to send out step by step instructions!

We've been using TennisOne for a year now, so we are all pretty familiar with it...but in the beginning I did have to send out step by step instructions!

It looks pretty impressive. Unfortunately, I estimate that half of my players are computer illiterate (don't ask me how they signed up w/ USTA in the first place) with two players only having e-mail/web access one or two days out of the week and only at work.

I'll give it a shot if I ever captain again I and have a computer savy group.

It's really targeted for party invites, but we have found it works really well to set up an rsvp system for weekly practices and matches. It logs responses in real-time, so you can instantly see last-minute cancellations, how many players are in or out, etc....It also can be programmed to send out reminders. Another big plus.